Just now I was sitting down in bed to write my blog and was coming to a blank on what to write. So, I asked Allison who suggested writing about either "SLUmor has it" or "JP's hair swoop." Although both of those would be quite fun to write about, I just wasn't feeling it. My response to Allison was something that I thought I would never say in my life.... "I feel like being philosophical" What is happening to me? I hate philosophy. I absolutely dreaded last spring when I had to finally take Intro to Philosophy. And here am I, now wanting to be philosophical. I don't know what is happening to me.
So three days ago marked the beginning of December and therefor the beginning of Christmas Season!! I am so excited and so ready for Christmas. I even have the schedule for ABC's 25 Days of Christmas saved on my desktop. As excited as I am for Christmas, that isn't what I want to write about tonight. Growing up, I was always so focused on Christmas that I didn't really think so much about Advent, other than when I was reminded at Church on Sunday or at CCD on Wednesday Night. That is until recently. These past few years, probably since junior year or so of high school, when I really began to reexamine and grow in my faith and relationship with Christ. That is whole different and very long story, maybe I will get into it another day. It is a story that is still being written everyday.
This past Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent and the first Sunday of the new liturgical year. Advent is all about preparing for the coming of Jesus and taking the time to spiritually and mentally prepare yourself for that. For the past few weeks, I have attended mass at the Cathedral Basilica, which is absolutely beautiful. For a few weeks, I went alone which was surprisingly really calming and peaceful, but this past week I went with three of my good friends/housemate which was really nice. We were the offertory gift bearers, at the BASILICA, we are kind of a big deal. As we sat listening to the homily, so many of the things that the priest was saying really stuck with me. He was talking about Advent and preparing for the coming of Jesus, and he talked about how the readings from the previous week were all about preparing for the "end times" and the second coming of Jesus. He mentioned a show called Doomsday Preppers, where people physically go to any length to prepare themselves for "Doomsday." He then went on to talk about how the "end times" whatever they may entail do not need physical preparation by us. Instead we are asked to constantly spiritually prepare ourselves by going to confession, praying, going to church and examining our all aspects of our life, especially our spiritual life. Socrates did say, "The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being." (See, I can be philosophical).
We can't spend so much time focusing on all the physical things in life. We should not spend so much time trying to free our body from pain and distress, but instead we need to sped more time freeing our soul from pain and distress. One thing that the priest said that really stayed with me was, "All things in the world, no matter how good they are, eventually pass away." The beautiful sunset at the end of the day eventually turns to darkness, the night sky covered in stars turns to day, the colorful autumn leaves falls to the grounds and lose their color, and time passes, never to return again. So when all these physical things begin to pass away in life, what can we focus on? More like, what should we focus on? I hope this gives you something to think about, reflect on and examine this Advent!
No comments:
Post a Comment